Hyper realistic cakes are not plentiful in Connecticut (nor does Hope from A Little Imagination Cakes brand herself as such), but take a look at the shoe in the cake she made for my wife's birthday and tell me that doesn't look real! If you need a special cake for a special occasion, you need to reach out to Hope and she will work with you. Shoot her an email, and you are replied with an automated list asking for the date of the event, serving size, inspiration of images, flavor choices, and phone number. She initially requested a phone call to follow up, but we just replied back and forth and we got this thing finalized. Not only was this cake beautiful, but it was delicious - I picked a simple red velvet with vanilla buttercream, and it was done to perfection. A special cake my my special girl on her special day. Thank you, Hope! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

We picked up birthday boys' cake today, and immediately after seeing it, I had an ohmygodjusttakemymoney moment. I kept my cool though, because I'm the adult (even though I also watch the show this cake was based on) and got to see my son's magical reaction to seeing the most amazing birthday cake he's ever seen in his life. Cake weathered the ride home like a seasoned passenger while dad and I fielded questions about why we can't eat his birthday cake before his party tomorrow. The process of requesting a cake and specifying certain parts and asking for input on others was painless and smooth. Will update with how the magnificence tastes tomorrow. Edit: Bomb cake. Very eatable and worth the calories. read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Our boy meeting Hope, the baker, and his birthday cake - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

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Delicious and beautiful. The cake was very moist and frosting was just right. Will definitely use again. read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - a cake decorated with pumpkins - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

They did an amazing job on my husband's 50th birthday cake! It was a custom Coors lite cake & I could not be happier with how it came out. Definitely recommend their cake shop read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

Hope is seriously amazing. An true artist who renders her work in cake form, but also a really wonderful person with a professional but warm, friendly demeanor. Our wedding was August 28, 2010 and people are still raving about our cake. I was never the little girl who dreamed up her wedding and started planning from the moment I knew what a wedding was. But when my husband and I got engaged, I had thought a little about it in the years prior and I said to him, you know... if we're going to do this whole she-bang, I always wanted to do a Van Gogh-themed reception, with a Starry Night cake. Lucky for me, he was totally on board with this idea - we had a lot of lee-way with color schemes and different things we could do, but the cake was always the centerpiece of the entire thing. I called a few places and we went for cake tastings, including the bakery that was part of our wedding package. Not one person understood what I was talking about, or could visualize what I had in my head. I was getting a little disheartened, thinking this wasn't going to happen. We even went so far as to start considering alternative ideas. Then A Little Imagination Cakes came up on a Google search. I called and spoke with Hope and within a few moments of my explaining what I was looking for, she had it, perfectly, 100%. Over the phone. I felt such confidence in her, right away, and it was totally warranted and deserved! Hope more than delivered - the cake was everything we wanted and exactly what I'd been thinking of! Plus it was ridiculously delicious. We had such a great experience all around that my mom and sister also had her design and make my baby shower cake this August as well. It was perfect and adorable!!! Seriously, you will not be disappointed with A Little Imagination Cakes - I will always order any special occasion cakes from Hope! ETA: We had our daughter's first birthday cake done, as well (Tangled theme). Pic uploaded - gorgeous as always! read more

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After narrowing down my top 3 bakers based off of reviews/online portfolios- I knew very quickly into meeting Hope that I would want her designing my wedding cake! In other consultations, there was the usual discussion about what I'm looking for, then they would show me more pictures of their work and would ask if I wanted something similar to specific photos they were showing me. With Hope, I showed her my inspiration images/discussed what I wanted and she immediately grabbed her pencil and paper and got to work at drawing the a picture of exactly what I wanted as if she had read my mind. She designed three different cakes- 1 large and 2 smaller with lace/peonies/pearls/ruffles and then a bunch of cupcakes to be arranged all around the cakes(by having cupcakes- I was able to save a lot of money instead of having the cakes large enough to serve all of the guests). Her cakes were also absolutely delicious- my guy wasn't able to make the consultation and she sent me home with huge pieces for him to try(automatic thumbs up in our book ;-) ) Not only was she able to draw my vision, but she completely delivered on my wedding day and made an absolutely beautiful wedding cakes/cupcakes that my guests couldn't stop raving about! She took my entire vision and brought it to life and I cannot thank her enough for making the perfect cake(s)- A Little Imagination Cakes rocks!!! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - My amazing wedding cake(s)/cupcakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

I searched several months for someone who could create a Lego cake. Surprisingly a Lego themed party wasn't very popular. I obtained most of my ideas through Pinterest, and purchased a lot of items through Etsy, and Oriental Trading. I went to the normal places such as Stop & Shop, etc. They will only make the cakes listed in the book. I then starting looking on Yelp. I came across Hope, and loved her work. I emailed her with my idea, and she said it would be no problem. I took our 5 yr old with me to go get the cake. I wish I had taken a picture of his reaction after seeing it for the first time. She had placed a little Lego guy in front of the cake, which was edible. Being a normal 5 yr old they're so honest. He mentioned the guy didn't have a face. She said: "silly me" and immediately gave him a face. We were both very pleased, and it was money well spent. I had never had a cake with fondant, and was concerned with how it would taste. She told me she doesn't use the regular fondant, and it's a marshmallow based fondant, which by the way was soo good! I decided to go with cookies and cream, and a chocolate mousse filling. Figured it would be appealing to kids, and adults. I would highly recommend her. I also discovered she had made a cake for Lego in Enfield, CT. Our party was June 18th. I'm a little late with this review. read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Beautiful Cake Hope created for our Lego themed party. - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

Thank you soooo much hope ! The absolutely beautiful cake you made us was the hit of the baby shower!!! Tiny little mix up on the date and I was so worried. Thought I was gonna have to get a cake at stop and shop . But you came through with shining colors and on such short notice. Could not imagine going somewhere else... gonna post not only the baby shower cake but 2 other cakes a little imagination had made us... thank you again hope! read more

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BEST. CAKE. EVER! 7 years ago, I had a Groom's Cake made from this place as a gift for my husband at our wedding. It was a really great cake! Fast forward to present day, and I was thinking of having a special cake made for my Dad for his retirement. I emailed A Little Imagination Cakes with an idea that I had to make an Indian Motorcycle cake (my Dad is obsessed), and Hope responded right away and was super helpful and easy to work with. She made everything SO easy, and when I went to pick up the cake, I was blown away. I had sent her an image of what I would like the cake to be like, and her work was ABOVE AND BEYOND what I expected, and actually better than the image I had shared with her!! She is so incredibly talented, and EVERYONE at the restaurant where we celebrated my Dad's retirement was in awe of this cake. Wait staff, fellow patrons - everyone kept coming over and remarking about how incredible this cake is. I cannot recommend these cakes highly enough!! If you are considering a specialty cake, THIS is the place to have it made!! Thank you so much, Hope! You made my Dad's retirement extra special, and I am so thankful :) read more

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After several emails and phone calls during the month of May for a late June birthday party, we spoke on the phone and were assured that we would receive an invoice by email by the end of that week which never arrived and we never heard anything further back at all. Moving or no moving to your Cromwell location and saying you're busy, this was so unprofessional to not even reply back. We live local right in Connecticut so not sure why Yelp posts a San Francisco location. read more

Hope and ALIC is AMAZING! I have used them for several cakes in the past two years and they always blow me away! Hope is so creative and she always seems to know exactly what I am looking for. This last time I asked her if they deliver cakes to places and she said that they do not, but then a few days later she happened to be heading in that direction anyway so she offered to drop it off for us, saving us so much time and stress! That was totally above and beyond and just showed how wonderfully she takes care of her clients! Every cake is as delicious as it is beautiful! Hope made us a cake in the shape of a stack of books for a grad party, a beautiful and classy 65th birthday party cake for my mother in law, and a stunning and glamorous cake for my 30th birthday party! She is always responsive and easy to work with! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

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Another year, any incredible cake with outstanding taste and looks! This year we went with science theme and I was not disappointed. I'll never want to use anyone else. Just as much detail in this cake as a wedding cake! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

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I ordered this cake for my son's birthday, it looked very nice , the colors and the design were exactly what I wanted . What was not expected is the flavor! , the cake was very dry and over baked and the strawberry filling was too sweet . The flavor part was very disappointing One more thing is that we were told that everything is edible except the big white balloon and of course the characters My son and friend's daughter started eating 2 of the smaller colored balloons and few minutes later I saw my son chewing on polystyrene!!!! Yes the balloon wasn't edible and my son could have choked if I didn't notice what was going on !!! I checked the rest of the balloons and they varied some were completely made of sugar and some had polystyrene balls inside and sugar coating This is a huge mistake , they could have said that all balloons aren't edible , very simple solution to avoid this unacceptable mistake ! I don't think I would recommend them to anyone read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

Amazing cake! The cake was more beautiful than expected and the taste, if possible, was even better. Thank you Hope! Made my birthday perfect. read more

Unprofessional. Poor business practices in terms of communication/follow up. She just stopped answering emails leaving me hanging. Fortunately I found other options. read more

Owner Hope, of A Little Imagination Cakes in West Hartford, created a masterpiece lawnmower birthday cake for our son modeled after his favorite toy. She absolutely knocked it out of the park!!! Service, design and taste were all incredible. Hope is a true pleasure to work with, very detail oriented and knows how to bake a seriously incredible tasting cake! She is truly one a one of a kind artist who takes great pride as a business owner and baker, and she helped make a special little boy so incredibly happy. You will not be disappointed if you decide to work with Hope for your special occasion! Our son's birthday party was remarkable and a day to remember in part due to their amazing cake. Thank you again, Casey Cartiera read more

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I highly recommend Hope and A Little Imagination Cakes! I inquired about getting a cake made to celebrate picking a mentor in my training program. Since I'm in dermatology, I was thinking about having the cake be like a chunk of skin. It sounds weird and nerdy (because it is) but Hope lived up to the challenge. The picture I had provided for my inspiration was of a plush toy that gave me the idea, and I was worried the cake might turn out silly or kitschy. When Hope opened the box on the day I picked it up, though, what I saw was 1000 times better than what I could've even imagined. She clearly did her research and took my idea and ran with it. It was absolutely phenomenal and was quite the hit. Plus, it was insanely delicious. When I need a cake again in the future I will absolutely be ordering from Hope at A little Imagination and you should too! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

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Really disappointed. Order a cake for my wedding and it was not what we talked about. The colors were all wrong, the cake was crooked (like it had fallen on the way to the wedding and Hope had tried to fix it and she didn't fix it well). It looked terrible. It tasted awful as well. It was super dry and disgusting. I was so disappointed. It was embarrassing to even serve it to my guests. Thank god most people were on the dance floor at that point and barely anyone ate it. I would never order a cake from from her or her business. Please do not go to her. She has no clue how to bake she over-promises what she can do and doesn't even care about her clients. read more

We were so totally amazed by Hope we can not believe our luck in finding her. We walked into our meeting with her with no clear ideas, except that we probably wanted cupcakes, and we had some cake toppers from a family member. We left a half hour later with a plan that was perfect for our event and for us as a couple. It's like she knew us personally it was so well suited to us. The finished product was even more amazing than we could have hoped. Beautiful with incredible details that I can't imagine how you make them out of edible products, and delivered exactly on time, exactly to specifications, etc. Plus, she was so generous with us. Her prices we already very reasonable, and she did many things for us for free that I would have expected to pay for. Two cake flavors? No problem. Two frostings? No problem. Loads of extra details, building a new cake stand, setting up the decorations on our cake table, etc? No problem! We will be pushing all our friends towards Hope, and looking for any excuse we can to get another cake from her. read more

Highly recommended! Working with Hope was very easy, she was incredibly responsive and flexible. I ordered a custom cake for my grandfather's 90th and with very little direction from me, she created a beautiful and delicious masterpiece. It was a hit! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Owl Doctor Cake - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

SEE PICS. Fondant Melted Off the Cake! Not for Important Celebrations or Summer Events! KIDS CAKES ONLY-MAYBE. Customer Service is Nonexistent. Overcharged me "by mistake" and I had to ask for a Refund. Contacted Hope 1.5 months before my newborn's Sip & See Baptismal Reception via email and secured my order and cake design (a two layer cake in the shape of pillows) by paying half of the cost of the cake. Hope was very responsive. 2 weeks before my family's big day, I emailed Hope again to confirm my order and pay the remaining balance before we left for our Jamaica vacation. Hope did not respond. I didn't want to worry about the cake when I got back seeing my son's baptism and Sip & See reception would be in 2 days after I returned to the States. Not to mention family and friends arriving from out of town for the big day. I finally called Hope at the Montego Bay airport on our way back to the States and confirmed my order and made my final payment. The cake was beautiful and Hope told us to absolutely not refrigerate the cake. We kept the cake overnight in a cool air conditioned room. Once we placed it on the dessert table at the lake house the fondant on the bottom pillow began to crack and slide down. The top pillow, however, kept its presentation. By the beginning of my son's Sip & See, the cake was such an eye sore, that we took it off of the dessert table. This was a $500 cake! Hope knew this event was going to be outdoors. I emailed Hope about what happened to her product and she never returned my call to try to make things right. I even sent her pictures of the cake coming apart. Too bad, as I need another cake next month for my son's birthday party but Hope did not reach out to try to make things right. Obviously, she is not interested in building a loyal client base. Again. Hope knew my event was being held outside at a lake house and she did not make sure her product would withstand a summer outdoor event. For kids cakes sure, but for major events no way! read more

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I can't begin to tell you how wonderful this bakery is. I literally gave less than a weeks notice to them and she not only made it happen, it came out AMAZING! It was delicious and complete perfection. Thank you so much, Hope. You made a 16 year old young lady the happiest gal in the world. Thank you!! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

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The BEST in the area!!! We wanted a very special/specific cake for my daughters first birthday and little imagination cakes executed beautifully. The cake looked better than what we had imagined and tasted delicious. Thank you!! read more

I was beyond thrilled with my Graduation Cake. Hope brought my vision to life. I emailed her with ideas and she was able to sketch out exactly what I was looking for. The cake was one of the main focal points at my party so I couldn't have been happier when it showed up. Everything was perfect! The cake was DELICIOUS AND GORGEOUS! I went with a strawberry shortcake version and it was the best cake I've ever eaten. All of the guests loved the cake. I got hundreds of pictures of it before they cut it up. It was so beautiful that it was hard to give permission to let them cut it. The colors on the cake matched my theme perfectly. I have zero complaints about this business! I will definitely be ordering future cakes from Hope! Thank you so much!! read more

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Picture shows what we sent for inspiration and what we received. Very disappointed does not look like a professionally done cake. Would not recommend. read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Cake comparison - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

Six weeks before my daughter's birthday I contacted Hope to see if she could make a cake. She checked her calendar, we agreed on a theme and she told me I'd hear back from her the next week with a few sketches. The next week came and went and the one after that. Despite my sending an email and leaving a voice message, I never heard anything from this bakery again. If she changed her mind or realized she was double booked or anything she could have at least let me know so that I would have a chance to find someone else to make the cake. She makes beautiful cakes, no doubt but this isn't how to run a good business. Use at your own risk. read more

I called Hope a week before my son's first birthday in a panic asking for a Sesame Street cake. She was so nice and reassuring and the cake came out exactly how I had envisioned it (even though I didn't give her any clues as to what I wanted!) Will definitely order from here again! read more

I'm so happy! On a whim and online reviews I decided to go ahead and give them a shot. I needed a customized cake for my son's 18years old birthday party. It was right after thanksgiving week. Hope was friendly and so accommodating. The cake's was not only amazing but it was also really delicious. I will definitely be back! read more

A Little Imagination Cakes - Custom Cakes Near Me - Cromwell, Connecticut

I can't say enough good things about A Little Imagination Cakes! Believe it or not, there aren't a whole lot of bakeries in the area that can do fondant on cupcakes but Hope was able to create cupcakes that exceeded my expectations. I was referred to her by another bakery that couldn't do what I wanted. Hope was responsive and while the cupcakes were a little more expensive than what you may normally pay, it's easy to see why and I would pay it again without hesitation. You can tell she has a great attention to detail. We ordered the Raspberry Swirl and they were amaaaaaazing. Just the right amount of raspberry flavor and she even worked with us to create a frosting that wasn't on her menu and it was sheer perfection. I'm so glad I found this place and we will most definitely be customers in the future! read more

Save yourself disappointment and use another baker. We got our wedding cake here. At our consultation we believed this bakery was professional and competent. We were assured the inspiration picture we brought with us could be replicated. Unfortunately, the cake was hardly like the inspiration picture. It tasted stale, the internal frostings were not what we ordered. After the wedding we reached out and didn't receive a response for over two weeks. When we called it was said an email was sent though we never received one. Since we spent about $1,000 on the cake we wanted to discuss at least a 1/10th refund since we didn't get what we wanted. We were met with a resounding NO. Very disappointing on many levels. Again, do yourself a favor, use another bakery! read more

My husband and I used this bakery for our wedding cake. While the flavors were good, the owner Hope baked our cake without putting sunflowers on it as we had discussed. The day of she asked our florist where the flowers were stating I had said he was going to bring some for the cake, which had never been the case. It was my understanding that she was making the cake and it was her responsibility for the flowers. Would not use her again. read more

Our wedding cake was perfect... PERFECT! Hope did an amazing job... she even made it into a hexagon (LOVED!) for me. The guests RAVED about the cake... some even requested a second piece!! :) Thank you A Little Imagination Cakes!! read more

I had an idea for a cake and Hope and her team brought my idea to fruition in a way better than I could have ever hoped. Not only was the cake absolutely beautiful and exactly how I had hoped, it was delicious as well! I highly recommend! read more

I want to start off by saying this is purely a comment on customer service. I reached out to ALIC a month before I needed a cake. Heard back once and never again. I'm not sure what happened here but I feel I fell through the cracks and finally when I didn't get a response I went elsewhere. I'm sure the cakes are great, there is no doubt about their beauty but I must say I was just a bit frustrated with the lack of communication after inquiry. read more

The name of this company is a canard -- they have a lot of imagination. I picked them off a google list randomly and asked if they could create a cake in the shape of a Maker's Mark bourbon bottle. But of course! It wasn't cheap but the result was more than worth it. Astonishing, really -- the presentation along would have been enough but the cake was delicious too. This will definitely be my go-to place for custom bakery going forward. read more

Really disappointed with customer service. Tried to order a groom's cake from this bakery, had great discussion with Hope about what I had in mind, and gave her the deposit payment info over the phone. But when tried to confirm 5 days before the wedding, they said that my card had been declined (which couldn't have been the case unless she took the number down wrong). Because of this, they cancelled my order and were currently booked up for the weekend. They claimed to have emailed me and I searched for an email I might have overlooked, but there was nothing. Why would I not have been called? I can't imagine if this was my wedding cake. So glad I went with another bakery. read more

I can't say enough great things about my experience getting a custom cake from A Little Imagination Cakes. I asked Hope to create a Jerry Garcia cake for my husband's 50th birthday. She took my idea and made it even better. The outside was his face and the inside was tye-dye with cherry Garcia frosting! It was adorable and yummy! read more

We loved everything about working with Hope and A Little Imagination Cakes! She set up a wonderful tasting, made a cake even more beautiful than the photograph I provided, and was incredibly easy to work with. The cake itself was delicious. The guests loved it and I'm still enjoying the leftovers. We could not have asked for anything more! read more

I ordered a 60th birthday cake & they did an amazing job! Hope was excellent at customer service and nailed the cake in every aspect! Thank you so much! read more